Chris Christie: I Wouldn’t Have Invaded Iraq Knowing What We Know Now

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R) said Tuesday that he would not have invaded Iraq in 2003 if he were President at the time and knew what we know in hindsight.

Christie’s comment came after former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush (R) caused a stir for his own comments about the Iraq War. When Fox News’ Megyn Kelly asked him in an interview that aired Monday whether he would have authorized the invasion of Iraq knowing “what we know now,” Bush responded “I would have.”

CNN’s Jake Tapper posed a similar question to Christie, another potential 2016 candidate: “Knowing then what we know now — no WMD in Iraq, et cetera — was that the right decision to go to war?”

The New Jersey governor said he wanted to answer Tapper’s question directly.

“If we knew then what we know now and I was the President of the United States, I wouldn’t go to war,” he told Tapper. “But we don’t get to replay history.”

Christie said that he believed former President George W. Bush did make “the best decision he could at the time” given the information coming from the U.S. intelligence community and the situation on the ground in Iraq.

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Catherine Thompson is a senior editor for Talking Points Memo in New York City. She came to the site in 2013 and reported on national affairs. Previously, she worked as a research assistant to investigative reporter Wayne Barrett. She can be reached at catherine@talkingpointsmemo.com.